Buck Harvey: Cowboys need a brash brother

Published 12:00 am, Saturday, January 15, 2011

Rex also thinks something happened years ago, when the two were 10 years old, changing Rob forever.

“After I hit him in the head with a golf ball,” Rex joked.

Otherwise, it's hard to tell the difference between these cursing, colorful, fat sons of Buddy. They know defense, and they coach with outrageous swagger, and they provide an edge the Cowboys haven't had since Jimmy Johnson returned fire against Buddy Ryan.

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Today, when the Jets meet the Patriots, it's Rex vs. history. “I think this is, without question,” he said, “the second-biggest game in the history of the franchise.”

That's the Ryan way, passed down from Buddy. At first glance, this shouldn't play well in Dallas; there was a time when Bounty Bowl Buddy was the enemy.

At first glance, Rob also doesn't look like a savior as a defensive coordinator. He oversaw the Cleveland defense last year, after all, and the Browns gave up 350.1 yards a game. The Cowboys gave up 351.8.

But the numbers aren't a fair measure, since Rob's defenses — from Oakland to Cleveland — never had the kind of pass rushers he will find in Dallas. Rob is like his father and brother, believing pressure defense is the only way to play, and he's had to invent ways to do that without a DeMarcus Ware. In Dallas, he will have one.

Also like Buddy and Rex, Rob has worked his way up. He learned under the best, as the linebackers coach for Bill Belichick, and two stints as the defensive coordinator for two different NFL teams suggest he's ready for something more than a third.

He said the same last November after the Browns upset the Saints and Patriots. Then, when asked whether he would join his brother as an NFL head coach in 2011, Rob said he would “be shocked” if that didn't happen.

So maybe he's shocked Dallas is his only option. But it will be his best one. Win there, and he will be a head coach somewhere soon enough.

Win there, and Rob will also gain Rex-like attention. But this wouldn't be a Jerry Jones move made for publicity. The Cowboys haven't had this kind of character for a long time, if ever, and this bold, out-spoken toughness is precisely what the Cowboys need.

The Cowboys have had good athletes and good guys, but not the kind found in the Pittsburgh-Baltimore brawl Saturday. The Ryans have created similar locker rooms, finding ways to make a violent sport fun, and their players have loved them for it.

Rex built this culture with the Jets, and his twin sounds identical. “The most physical team,” Rob said, “usually wins.”

Garrett has said similar things the past few months. And if they seem to be opposites — both in build and in personality — then Eric Mangini has an answer for that.

Last season, in Cleveland, Mangini called Rob “a great counterbalance.”

Garrett would have to loosen his restrictions about assistants talking freely to the media. A Ryan can't live with that.

And Jones would have to adjust, too. When the Cowboys play the Jets next season, he would need to move away from the microphone.

But given the current personality of this franchise, and what the Ryans have done in other cities, is there a better hire than Rob?